Episode 154 First Sunday of Lent, Year C - (February 14, 2016)Hello and welcome to the Pulpit Fiction Podcast, the lectionary podcast for preachers, seekers and Bible geeks. This is episode 154, for Sunday February 14, the first Sunday of Lent, Year C.

Cheryl Kerr- You guys are the best. What a blessing meeting you at FoH. Every week I look forward to hanging out with you for an hour and getting absorb your prayerful research. Keep it up!

David Piatt-My wife and I are United Methodist pastors in NY. She just recently found your show, and we both quickly become fans. Thanks for the work you do in helping to fill out our sermon study each week!

Lynn Gaines- You might make a preacher out of me yet! But more importantly, thank you for opening up the lectionary in creative and relevant ways! God bless you.

Jesus proved he is the son of God by responding faithfully as oppose to acquiescing to the devil

Devil

the opposition, the tempter, the “other”, the adversary or accuser

Food

mimics Israel in the wilderness - demand for Manna, Water, etc

Israel is unfaithful- Jesus is faithful

Jesus responds - Deuteronomy 8:3

Temptation for material items

“Give us this day our daily bread” - a gift from God given, not something demanded

Power

mimics Israel’s desire for a King

Deuteronomy 6:13

total power corrupts totally

Won’t the world be better off with Jesus as the leader? Temptation of ends justifying the means

Survival

Foreshadows Jesus’ death Psalm 91:11-12- the Devil’s quote

knowing scripture and being faithful are 2 different things

Jesus responds with Deuteronomy 6:16

the devil waits for the opportune time: Luke 22:42 The Garden of Gethsemane (or perhaps into Judas Luke 22:3)

Sermon Thoughts and Questions:

Do we face temptation alone or, perhaps like Jesus even when we are led into the wilderness by the Spirit and face temptation- the Spirit remains with us to guide us.

Wouldn’t the world be better off if Jesus was in charge of all the Kingdom of the Earth? Isn’t that the Kingdom of God? If so, then doesn’t the end justify the means? NO- NO - NO

The ends do not justify the means, and that reasoning leads us down a dangerous path

Jesus makes food to feed the hungry, he does great deeds of power and risks everything even unto death, but when he does these things it is always for the glory of God or neighbor - not for his own glory. When we as individuals or churches do great things - are we doing them for our glory or for God’s glory?

Survival seems to be the greatest temptation the church faces today? What are we willing to do or not do in order to survive? Are those action faithful?

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Lent is a time to examine priorities. Shouldn’t money be one of those priorities?

Not so much about giving something up as it is taking count of what really matters, and setting first things first.

Bible Study

Ceremony upon entering the Land.

“What is described is, perhaps, to be understood as the first ceremony of harvest on entering the land. No doubt it provided a pattern for future celebrations, for the first part of the harvest was offered to God every year (see Leviticus 23:9-22)” (Common English Study Bible, notes to 26:1-11, p. 305 OT)

Interesting placement in lectionary, considering: “the focus here seems to be on the Festival of Weeks in the spring, also known in the New Testament as Pentecost” (John Newsome,Texts for Preaching, Year C,p. 191).

Power of ceremony

“Deuteronomy knows that when a people forgets its past, it loses both its present and its future.” (John Newsome, p. 190).

In order to move into the future, the people are commanded to take another look at the past.

Confession

My father was a starving Aramean (or wandering).

Reference to Jacob (Israel), who was starving before going to Egypt. Once there, his house rose to prominence as an immigrant people.

Egyptians then treated them harshly, making them slaves.

God showed mercy

Delivered from Egypt

Brought us to this place - full of milk and honey.

Therefore, I am bringing the first fruits of the ground to God.

“In the Lord’s provision of a place to live in freedom under the rule of God and with opportunity to enjoy the rich blessings of the land, Israel found its salvation gift from God. No theme so permeates the book as does the word of God’s gift of land and place and provision for life. It is the presupposition of all the instruction” (Patrick Miller,Interpretation: Deuteronomy,p. 179)

Johnny Appleseed prayer

The lord is good to meAnd so I thank the lordFor giving me the things I needThe sun and rain and an apple seedYes, he's been good to me

I owe the lord so muchFor everything I seeI'm certain if it weren't for himThere'd be no apples on this limbHe's been good to me(Disney short film from 1948, directed by Wilfred Jackson).

Justice

Includes the Levites - a people with no land; and the immigrants among you.

Offering is a chance for distribution of wealth. The offering comes from God’s bounty, and is distributed to those who have nothing.

The offering of first fruits, whether at the temple in Jerusalem as in this passage or locally in the outlying towns every third year as a tithe (26:12-15; cf., 14:28-29), ensures that the entire community shares in the land’s abundance.” (Esther Menn, Working Preacher)

Sermon Thoughts and Questions

Offering and Confession Offering itself is an act of confession. It is an act of affirming that all that belongs to us is rooted in God’s creation. The confession about more than seeking forgiveness of sin. It is a confession that God has been in all things. We confess that we have wandered, and that the wandering is, at least in part, due to our own misguided attempts at control. We confess our role in the wandering even as we give thanks for the current place of plenty. Giving thanks, and offering the first fruit of our labor is an acknowledgment that we do not labor alone.

Offering and the Past. Looking to the past is not an effort to cling to the glory days. The past here consists of an honest look at where the people came from. It acknowledges their place as wanderers and slaves, juxtaposed with the present situation of being fixed in a land of plenty. Looking to the past is an act of hope for the future. How many churches today are weighed down by the stories of the past? Like the people who have now finished wandering, the Church does not look like it did forty years ago. This is a good thing. Taking an honest look at the trials we have overcome gives us strength to face the future trials with God’s grace.

Offering and Justice.

Tasty Wafer of the Week:

Thursday Night Special with Leah Gunning Francis, author of Ferguson and Faith. Another way to support the show is to order on amazon through our portal on the website. Click on STORE at PulpitFiction.us/store.

Winner ofFerguson and Faith:Karla Seyb-Stockton!

CLOSINGShout-Outs:Lynn Phillips Gaines“Where have you been all my clergy life? So glad Laurence Wainwright-Maks got me hooked up with your podcast. Will donate soon.”